from the
Holy Land
from
Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz
"Your friend in Karmiel"
October 27th 2023 -Volume
13 Issue 3 14th of Cheshvan 5784
Our
“Cousins”
You may not like this E-Mail. I’m not even
sure I will like it. It’s not something I’ve fully digested yet. These days
though things are moving so fast that it’s hard to digest anything. And since
this is the post-stomach-surgery-Rabbi-Schwartz, bichlal I need a lot more time
to digest things. But yet Hashem is the one that is presenting us with this
meal. We’re meant to be eating it and taking it all in. All of it, with all it’s
flavors and tastes. With all it’s nuances. The bitter and the sweet. The tears
and the songs. The spirit and the sadness.
Let’s start off with what I’ve already
digested. The sweet part. Klal Yisrael is united like never before. I saw
videos of Chasidim in Square town dancing with an Israeli flag by a wedding and
secular Tel Aviv soldiers holding Belzer Chasidim on their shoulders- and they’re
not light- singing Avinu She’bashamayim- Our Father in heaven we love
you.
There are chareidim running to join the army,
and others running around comforting the bereaved, making and delivering food
and supplies to soldiers and families that have been evacuated from the South
and even picking fruits and vegetables in these farms- that may not have even
kept in Shemitta in the Gaza border, because they don’t have any workers to do
it for them. At the same time the number of soldiers that are wearing tefillin
and tzitzis daily, the amount of secular Jews that have started lighting
Shabbos candles, observing mitzvos and are davening regularly is unprecedented.
We are one. Just like that.
At least in this regard the salvation of
Hashem has come k’heref ayin- like the blink of an eye and wiped out all
sinat chinam from amongst us. That prayer of Avinu Malkeinu has been
answered. Hashem has given us the first taste of what Mashiach’s time will feel
like, as the Rambam describes, when there will be no hatred or jealousy or
fights between us. And it tastes really good.
As well He gave us the next course of what it
can feel like when the world is turning to us and supporting our mission. When
it sees us as the light Hashem has chosen to chase away and obliterate the
darkness. At least some of the world. OK well… at least some of the world
leaders are saying so for now. Although as we can see there are certainly too
many that have joined TEAM Nazi-Hamas and evil and the Dark Side as well. We always
knew there were antisemites out there, but the fact that 51% of 18–24-year-olds
in the United States and 25% of the general population, according to the polls
I saw, feel that Hamas was justified in chopping off Jewish babies’ heads, raping
its daughters and burning families alive while dancing and desecrating in their
blood is definitely a serious wake-up call. Statistically one out of four of
your neighbors on your block feel that you and your children’s death is
justified because you support Israel, because your Jewish. Because your part of
the Tribe.
Your children that might be on college
campuses around the country may have felt somewhat nervous or in danger until
now. But, that ain’t nothing compared to what we’re talking about now. Guess
what? Every other kid there on their campus thinks they should die. 51% is a
big number. That’s still indigestible. Is it as indigestible as the Holocaust
and the false sense of security of “this will also pass” that our grandparents
felt in Hungary, Poland and Germany in the 1930’s? I don’t know. As I said, I’ve got a small
stomach these days.
That the U.nited N.othings hate us was always a
given. That the hate-filled squad of AOC and all those NY’ers that vote for her
and that there would be tens of thousands around the world protesting on behalf
of these sub-human animals, is also not a chiddush- not something that
was unexpected. Yet, that there are major companies like Microsoft, Amazon,
Deloitte, Mastercard and McKinsey that have come out on the side of the poor
Gazan refugee victims. That business-is-business is something Jews more than
anyone else understand, certainly when it comes at the cheap price of the blood
of our children and attempted Genocide of our nation. Yet, to see it up close when
not even 80 years after the Holocaust have past is hard to swallow. But as we Torah-studied
Jews know from long ago from our sages- ‘Esau soney es Yaakov’- that Esau
hates Yaakov, is not a trend. It’s a halacha; one of the basic laws of the universe
like gravity, like one plus one equals two. It just is.
Yet, the hard part that I wanted to write
about this week isn’t about Esau. It isn’t about our “errant” brother of Yaakov.
Maybe we’ll get to him on that parsha. This week it’s about our cousin
Yishmael- the Arab world. The Arab world about whom-I often pointed out to my
tourists, it never says hates Yaakov. There is no such Halacha. In fact
historically we Jews until the last century have always faired better under
Muslim rule than Christian, Pagan, or Atheist countries. Always. Arabs in the
past always merely wanted money out of us. They weren’t blood-thirsty animals
that the Cossacks, Crusaders, or inquisition was. They weren’t Nazis or even
Stalin. We’d pay off Achmed a few shekels and we’d be fine. It wasn’t always
fun. There definitely were Jewish deaths and murders. But they weren’t
genocidal. They weren’t Esau.
Things changed when we returned to Israel.
When Hashem began to bring us home. When as Rav Moshe Shapiro brilliantly
writes on this week’s parsha, we entered the final era of this exile, as
described by the Gaon of Vilna, The Maharal, the Zohar, the Midrash and Rambam
amongst many other sources, the era of the Galus Yishmael. When we will suffer
under our cousins’ hands. This is it boys and girls.
The Midrash of the Pirkey D’Rebbi Eliezer
writes over 2000 years ago
(Chapter 32) “There are 6 whose name was
given before they were born. Yitzchak, Yishmael… as it says ‘and you shall
call his name Yishmael. And why is his name called Yishmael? For in the
future Hashem will listen to the cry of our nation because of what the children
of Yishmael will do to us in the land at the end of days… As it says ‘Yishma
El V’ya’aneim- God will hear and answer us.’
His name is Yishma-el because it is through
the atrocities he will commit against us- that seemingly will be worse than
anything Esau ever did to us, that will cause to cry out like never before to
Hashem and be answered. As I said, we’re there.
Who is this Yishmael? What is he about? What
is his power? And how are we meant to defeat him? Rav Shapiro, quotes the
Maharal of Prague that explains that the vision of Daniel in which he sees four
beasts rising up from the sea to destroy us correspond to the 4 exiles that we
must endure until our redemption. The first is a lion is Babylonia, the second
is a bear which is Persia/ Media the third is a leopard which is Greece and the
fourth which is a combination of the previous animals is Rome and is the
longest fiercest of all of them.
Yet, the Maharal continues there is a fifth
exile; Yishmael. He is not part of this prophecy because he is not compared to
an animal. He is what Hashem described as what is wrongly translated as a Pereh
Adam- a wild man. I say wrongly translated, because in Hebrew the adjective
follows the word it describes. So an Ish Tov is a good-man. Tov
describes the word, ish-man. A talmid chacham- is a student of a
sage. Student is the noun and chacham is the adjective that describes
who he is a student of. Thus it follows that in the case of the word pereh
adam, it’s accurate translation would be a man-like wildness. His essence
is wild, yet it appears like a man. But he’s not human. He’s a wild being at
his core.
A wild beast- a chaya, human beings
have rule over. We can conquer and rule over and even subjugate them. It’s what
Hashem told Adam in the Garden of Eden our job is. The other four nations that
will exile us, Daniel sees as wild animals that we can and did ultimately overcome.
Yet, Yishmael, is not a wild beast. He’s the only nation, besides Israel that
is described somewhat as an adam- a man. He’s fascinatingly and terrifyingly
even more powerful and frightening than the animals that terrorized and
murdered us in the past. Because he has a certain power just as we do. And is
even our equal in many ways. It is for that reason our sages were terrified of
the era when Yishmael takes the reigns and teams up with Esau. It’s at the
point that we are at a loss.
Who is this man/beast? How is he born? What is
his origin? His DNA? This week’s parsha tells us that Yishmael is a product of
Avraham and Hagar, Sarah’s Egyptian maid-servant who happens to be the daughter
of Pharaoh. He is the combination of both worlds. He’s got Avraham’s faith in
Hashem like no other nation. Unlike Rome, the pagan worlds of Greece, Persia
and Babylonia or even the Atheists and Communists of Russia and the Christian
worlds, they are not idolators. They don’t believe that God has children with
women and kills them for the world’s sins. Yishmael believes in the same God
that we do.
In fact Reb Moshe writes that he had heard
that Reb Yehoshua Leib Diskin would not walk in front of an Arab that was
praying in the same way that Halacha prohibits walking in front of a Jew that
was praying! They’re davening to Hashem, and in some ways their dedication and willingness
to sacrifice everything in His name comes from Avraham’s faith and willingness
to sacrifice himself and be thrown into the fiery furnace of Nimrod because of
that faith. That’s scary. That’s not a chaya. That’s an adam-
like Avraham, that has power that other nations don’t.
Egypt on the other hand threw something else
into this DNA. The Torah tells us that the difference between Egypt and Israel
is that Israel is a country that is not like Egypt where…
“Where you sowed your seed and which you
watered by foot, like a vegetable garden”
Egypt has plenty of water for its fields. They
just kick a bit with their feet and they’ve got the Nile River that flows all
over and they’re good to go. They don’t need heaven. They don’t need prayer.
They have it all right there under their feet. In fact, that’s why he suggests
that we find that Yishmaelim worship the sand under the feet. Wherever they
walk they define as being holy. The holiness is right on the ground they walk
on. It’s wherever they decide it should be.
Eretz Yisrael
stands in stark contrast to that.
But the land, to which you pass to possess,
is a land of mountains and valleys and absorbs water from the rains of heaven,
For things to grow in Israel. To survive in
this hilly mountainous range, we need rain. We need to turn to heaven. And thus
Hashem tell us.
And it will be, if you hearken to My
commandments that I command you this day to love the Lord, your God, and to
serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul, I will give the rain of your
land at its time, the early rain and the latter rain, and you will gather in
your grain, your wine, and your oil. And I will give grass in your field for
your livestock, and you will eat and be sated.
Our existence is dependent on our connection
to Hashem. Fearing Him. Following His ways. Doing what we’re supposed to be
doing on this world. We have that connection. The snake in the garden of Eden’s
curse, as the Kotzker Rebbi famously said, was that his food would be the dust
of the earth. He never needs to turn to Hashem to get His next meal. He thinks
he has it all. That is the danger that the snake Satan lives with and threatens
the world with.
The danger and DNA of Yishmael, which is
different than any other nation is that they believe in God with total faith,
yet they define that whatever they do here in this world as Allah’s work. It
could be the worst atrocities, but it’s what Allah wants them to do. They don’t
look to heaven. They bow to the ground under them. Hitler, the Nazi’s, the
Vatican and even Stalin tried to cover up what they did. Not these guys. They’re
Facetiming live and claiming that it’s Allah, as they burn families alive and
decapitate babies. It’s distorted faith on steroids. And that makes them more
dangerous than anyone else.
The Mahral, notes that they are in fact the
only exile that is not considered a malchus; a kingdom or empire, unlike
Persia, Rome, Babylonia and Greece. Because they don’t have an independent
kingdom. They live in tents. They are all over the world. They believe that the
whole world is Gods or Allahs just as we do. They are the only other nation
that Hashem’s name “E-l” in their name. Because they are also about the kingdom
of Hashem. But rather than looking to Hashem for what His will on this world
should be, they define it by what they’re animalistic tendencies and the dust of
their feet determines it should be.
The antidote to them as we see at the end of
this weeks parsha is Yitzchak. Yitzchak who as we will see next week is willing
to be sacrificed and give up everything because Hashem told him to. Because he
doesn’t have a will other than Hashem’s will. That act of the binding of Isaac-
where he literally was tied up so that he has no personal natural physical
inclination that would prevent him from giving himself up and which is the
ultimate submission to Hashem-is the epitome of the opposite of Yishmael.
That act takes place on Har Ha’Moriah; our
Temple Mount. And it is for that reason, Reb Moshe writes, that the Arabs have
always tried to disconnect us from that and ban us from going and worshipping
there. This is despite the fact that Jerusalem has no mention or place in their
Koran. It’s because fundamentally they understand on a spiritual level that it
is the place that stands in stark contrast to all they do and want, and claim. And
we do as well.
How do we beat them? There’s only one way. It
is total submission to Hashem. It’s the declaration that we have no power
besides Hashem. In gematria the difference between Yishmael and Yisrael is 90
which is the letter Tzadik. The difference between us and them is knowing what
a tzadik is. Tzadik Hashem bechol derachav- Hashem is righteous in
all His ways. We look to Hashem and nullify ourselves to His will. That’s our
power against them.
What does that mean? Its declaring that loudly
to the world and to ourselves. It’s not the army, the iron dome, or our tanks that
will win us this war. It’s certainly not Biden. It’s not about politics. It’s
about revealing the oneness that comes from us when we say Shema Yisrael
Hashem Echad together. All of us. It’s when we not only bite the bullet
about all the petty divisions, the “religious” disagreements and disputes. The “my”
form of Judaism that defines our religion by the way “I” think it should be. By
the type of Kippah that “I” wear, the nusach “I” daven,
the mitzvos “I” think are more important, that “my” Rabbi tells
me I should put all my focus on- because that’s what’s really important. It’s
about understanding that Hashem wants us all together to say it’s Him. All of
us. And if you don’t get that, then there’s still too much “you” in
equation. There’s too much “me…” There’s too much Yishmael.
One of the reasons why I started off saying
that this is hard for me to digest, is not only because it’s hard to believe
that we really are at the doorstep of Mashiach, and that we’re really facing
off with the last major challenge and birth pangs of a new and final day, although
that is pretty wild. Rather it’s because perhaps because I’m an American, and
perhaps maybe even because I was raised with an out-of-town mentality. I find
it almost abhorrent to myself to stereotype and suggest that there is a concept
of DNA and spiritual tendencies and genes yada yada…Particularly as a Jew who
knows his history and whose nation has been the target of all the worlds worst
stereotypes and racial slurs, I’m even more sensitive to that. As I think
probably we all should be, naturally.
We all bristle when we hear someone say “You
Jews…” and we should when we hear someone say the same about “Blacks”
“Puerto Ricans”, “Mexicans”, “Germans” and yes as well
even Arabs. There were good Poles that saved Jews, there are many productive
and successful Blacks, Mexicans and all minorities. And yes, there are many
Arabs as well that serve in the Army, that are not animals. That want peace.
There have been many Druze soldiers that given their lives to save Jewish
lives. There were Arabs even in the 1929 Massacre of Chevron that hid and saved
Jews. Here in the North we have relatively good and even friendly relationships
with many Arabs. I certainly do, with many that express scorn on the
Palestinians and expressed real horror and even empathy about what took place.
Maybe they all aren’t Yishmaelites. We find that Yishmael himself (as you can
see in my new Tefilla-Prayer of the week column below) does teshuva. So
it’s hard to read and learn something that paints with a giant stroke an entire
nation. I’m digesting it still, as I said,
Yet, at the same time I see the truth of it as
well as it regards to us. What this Yishmael has done to us is make us realize
that we are really one nation. We are all the same. We all have the same heart,
spirit, same God. See, until now we may have looked at our own brothers and
sisters as being totally different than us. We may have even felt more
comfortable with some of our goyim “friends” who shared our “value” system more
than those in our “family”. The frum might have felt more comfortable with
republican American Trump loving goyim or Christianvangelicals than their liberal
left-wing (what they described as) “self-hating” Jews. Those left-wing non-Orthodox
Jews may have felt more comfortable identifying with their liberal pundits than
their Chasidic or religious Chareidi brothers and sisters. Yishmael came and
reminded us that it was all stupid. It was all wrong.
We are and always will be one and will be
closer to those of our blood, our history and destiny because we come from
Avraham and Sarah- not Hagar. We are descendants of Yitzchak and will give our
lives for one another. We are a nation of unbreakable faith. We went through
the smelting pit of Egypt together, we sang at the splitting of the sea together,
and we all stood on Mt. Sinai and heard Hashem tell us that we are His chosen
nation. All of us. It is in our DNA. Because there is such a thing as a
spiritual DNA. This last bit of exile is to fight against Yishmael and remind
ourselves of that. It’s no wonder this parsha and promise of the end of days is
called Lech Lecha. For we are going toward ourselves. Our truest shared
essence. That’s the way we get to the land we have been promised. It’s the final
thing we have to digest.
Have peaceful Shabbos,
Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz
************************
YIDDISH PROVERB OF THE WEEK
“Ah hundert hayzer zol er hobn, in yeder hoyz a
hundert tsimern, in yeder tsimer tsvonsik betn un kadukhes zol im varfn fin eyn
bet in der tsveyter - A
hundred houses shall he have, in every house a hundred rooms and in every room
twenty beds, and a delirious fever should drive him from bed to bed..
RABBI SCHWARTZ'S TOUR GUIDE EXAM QUESTION OF THE WEEK
answer below at end of Email
11.The first
Crusade left Europe in the year ___________.
Where can
remains of the sugar industry from the Crusader period be found?
A. On the
Galilean coastal plains
B. In the
mountains of Jerusalem
C. On the
slopes of mount Hermon
D. In the
Jordan Valley
RABBI SCHWARTZ’S COOL VIDEO OF THE WEEK
https://soundcloud.com/ephraim-schwartz/shomer-yisroel
– My latest moving composition-
the prayer of all of us in this horrific war- Shomer Yisrael- Dovid Lowy did an
amazing jobs on the vocals and arrangements
https://soundcloud.com/ephraim-schwartz/kum
– This week’s Parsha my Kum song! Amazing!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G6W8GxuBYNM-
and this is the original with translation of that song…Elokai Neshama… it
should be a merit for him…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1h6dIEQMz3s
-
On her 3754th yahrtzeit Benny Friedman and Baruch Levines V’Shavu
Vanim new Mama Rochel song. Chayala Newhaus incredible lyrics..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SJD4j4mdc10
– Mama Rochel new song by Ari Zoldan great
war footage
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m3oXuVBZ0Cs
–A Dedi Tribute from Yanky Briskman and
Yedidim
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fvOYgHCihIU
– Maccabeats Song For Chayalim
RABBI SCHWARTZ’S PARSHA PRAYER
INSPIRATION OF THE WEEK
(NEW COLUMN)
Prayer for Children – This week’s parsha of Lech Lecha contains
perhaps the one prayer that we wish now more than ever was never prayed. It is
the prayer of our Patriarch Avraham when being told that he would have a child.
He would have Yitzchak, who would inherit the land of Israel. Avraham’s
response was to pray that his son Yishmael should live before Hashem
Lu Yishmael Yichyeh lifnanecha- It would be enough if Yishmael should live before
you.
This prayer Reb Elimelech Biderman suggests and even proves is the
secret why this cursed nation that we suffer from is still around. Yet in this
prayer there is a powerful message, he finds in what the power of prayer can
accomplish.
In Parshat Chayei Sarah we are told that when Avraham dies Yitzchak
and Yishmael come to bury him. Our sages note that although Yishmael is the
older brother by 13 years he allowed Yitzchak to go before him. From here they
derive that Yishmael did teshuva. He repented. In fact we even have great Jewish
sages throughout history that had the name Yishmael. Most notably the Kohen
Gadol that went into the Holy of Holies and even gave Hashem a blessing. So
Yishmael ultimately did teshuva.
On the other hand we note that Esau, the wicked son of Yitzchak and
the brother of our Patriarch Yaakov, never did teshuva. He remained wicked
until his head was chopped off in his attempt to prevent Yaakov’s children from
burying our Father in the Machpela cave. Why is it that Yishmael did teshuva
and Esau didn’t?
Rav Biderman answers and derives from here that it is because
Avraham had davened for Yishmael while Yitzchak didn’t. Now it is not because Yitzchak
didn’t love Esau that he didn’t daven for him, rather it was quite the
opposite. The verse tells us that Yitzchak loves Esau because he “hunted him
with his mouth”. He tricked Yitzchak. He would ask him questions in halacha
regularly. He pretended to be righteous. Yitzchak had no clue that he needed to
daven for him.
Avraham on the other hand realized and knew what Yishmael was. So
davened that he should “live before Hashem” That he should get the fear of God
upon him. That he should reform and that he should return. And his tefilla worked.
Because prayer always does, particularly prayer for one’s children. For we are
like Hashem in that prayer- we are a Father asking for his children and we turn
to Hashem as a Father as well. The tefilla for Yishmael worked despite the fact
as we said that he was really by his nature almost beyond hope. He was a pereh-
adam a wild man. Yet, the heartfelt prayer can work. And that is the last
for us as well. Never stop praying for our children. Our Father in heaven is
always listening.
RABBI SCHWARTZ'S ERA’S AND THEIR
PLACES AND PEOPLE IN ISRAEL OF THE WEEK
Life after Death- a Prophets last message- 633
BC – Elisha had led the nation for 66 years
after his Rebbi, Eliyahu’s death during the kingdom of Yehoshafat
and his children Yehyochaz and Yoash. While he was alive there
was a degree of protection for the nation. When he died the native Moabites
across from Jordan started to maraud the people of Israel. And here’s
where an amazing story takes place; the final miracle of Elisha.
The Navi tells us that there was a funeral that
was going on and when they came to bury the person, they heard Moabites
coming and so they put down the body and fled. The body touched the bones of Elisha
and came back to life again. Pretty cool!
Now who was this person and what was the point
of the miracle. There are two opinions amongst the Midrashim. The first is that
this was a wicked person. And it was unbefitting for Elisha to have him
buried next to him. So Hashem brought him back to life again and had him walk
away and then die again somewhere else for the honor of the grave of Elisha.
Another more fascinating opinion is that this
was in fact a righteous person. It was none other than the husband of the
prophetess Chulda whose name was Shalom Ben Tikva (what a great
Zionistic name!). He would sit by the city gate and hand out water to all of
the pilgrims to Jerusalem. It’s interesting that one of the gates on the
southern wall of the Temple Mount is called the Chulda gates.
Despite the fact that the entire Temple Mount outer complex is only from
the 2nd Temple period, but according to some it got that name
because the Talmud tells us that Chulda the prophetess would sit by city
gates. Maybe with her husband, Shalom, giving out water to pilgrims.
Even more fascinating is that Chulda and Shalom
after he was resurrected, we are told went home and had a baby. That baby’s
name was Chanamel Ben Shalom, who also plays an important part in the
history of our nation. For he was the uncle or cousin of Yirmiyahu whom
Hashem commanded to redeem his field before the destruction of the Temple. He
did so and they had it signed and sealed for all times by his servant Baruch
Ben Neriah. The message being that one day, there will be houses bought and
sold in Jerusalem once again. Fascinatingly enough in the City of
David we have found remnants of Bullas- clay seal that actually has
the name of Baruch on it. Could it be from that document.
But the cool thing is that what the message to
Yirmiyahu and to us was that Jerusalem may look dead but it will come back to
life. Who better to get that message from then Chanamel, the child that
was born from the resurrected father Shalom. Amazing! Perhaps as well
one day soon we will see Gaza and maybe even Lebanon returned to its
Jewish hands where it belongs as well…See, always a timely message in this
column as well…
RABBI SCHWARTZ'S FUNNY
GAZA MEMES/ JOKES OF THE WEEK
Every day the News reports of another Hamas
commander killed in an air strike in Gaza? How many commanders are there? I’m
starting to suspet that just like every guy in Lakewood calls himself a Rabbi,
every Muhammed and Ahmed in Gaza calls themselves a Commander
The difference between us and them
Hamas terrorist- Mommy, look at me! I killed
10 Israelis!
Israeli Soldier- Mommy look at me I saved 10
people!
A Jew for Palestine protestor is like a
chicken demonstrating for Colonel Sanders
In times of tragedy we send humanitarian aid
and doctors to the world and they send us their world leaders- every one gets
what they’re lacking…
A reminder for those in Gaza on October 29th
we turn the clock back to the Stone Age
Israeli soldier to Hamas terrorist “How old
are you”
Terrorist- “Next month I’ll be 24”
Soldier- “Wow, you’re optimistic”
This war has it’s benefits. When ever my
children start fighting I put on my ringtone that sounds like a war siren…
Works great!
Achmed- “Fatima! Did you finish cleaning the
house?”
Fatima- “All I have left are the steps”
It’s God’s job to judge the terrorists. It’s
ours to arrange the meeting…
And just like that I haven’t seen any Black
Hebrew Israelites proclaiming themselves to be the “Real Jews” over the past three weeks. Weird…
Neturei Karta- “We were Pro-Hamas before it
was trendy”
Proven Conversation winner with
Pro-Palestinian activist.
1) Ask him if he feels Israel has a right to
respond to terror against it’s citizens.
2) When he tells you “No!” then ask him “Why”
3) Wait until he tells you something stupid
about “how violence only leads to more violence and makes the situation worse
and will hurt innocent civilians”
4) Punch him in the face
5) when he tries to punch you back explain to
him how violence only leads to more violence…
6) If he agrees with you. Punch him again in
the face.
7) and again and again and again until he
understands that sometimes you have to punch back…
Why do we need to report that there were 500
people killed in Gaza. Why not just say that theire unemployment level is down
by 10% percent.
The answer to this week”s question is A – Got this one right too. The first part was easy. I go over Jewish history dates with all my tourists all the time. I can do this in my sleep. So 1099 was an easy year to remember. As far as part two I wasn’t sure. But I took a good guess, Akko was the Crusader capital so it made sense that would be where they grew sugar. I was right, Baruch Hashem! So doing not bad on this exam so far with the score being Rabbi Schwartz at 8.5 point and the MOT having 2.5 point on this latest Ministry of Tourism exam.
